1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for operation of a medical diagnosis apparatus with which specific medical questions can be answered; as well as corresponding a medical diagnostic apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For the diagnosis of specific medical questions, there are increasingly clear procedural rules for the medical and diagnostic services necessary for this purpose. The examination protocol is linked with the specific questions with regard to the patient and illness, and which questions are to be answered by the examination. Complex diagnosis apparatuses (such as, for example, magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) and computed tomography (CT)) allow the examination personnel to adapt the examination workflow to the question to be answered. Complexities can concern the measurement itself as well as possible post-processing or, documentation steps.
The association of a medical question with a commensurate examination workflow can be difficult and requires a thorough comprehension of the examination method and the illness to be examined. These examinations, however, are often implemented by personnel who do not possess the necessary qualifications to adapt the examination workflow to the question. The same problem results for the doctor who should generate the diagnosis, who sometimes needs assistance in order to select the proper diagnostic procedures and modalities for the current medical questions.
Standardized examination protocols that are predefined at the examination apparatus are known in the prior art. For example, in magnetic resonance tomography a number of imaging sequences are combined into an examination protocol for examination of a predetermined organ. The operator or physician selects the question under the standard protocols. If necessary, these standard protocols are adapted further by expensive, highly-qualified personnel. However, this procedure often leads to unsatisfactory results since medical questions cannot always be directly associated with a standard protocol. For this reason the operating personnel of the diagnosis apparatus must select one or more standard protocols that, however, in total often exceed those needed to answer of the medical question The examination time span is therewith unnecessarily extended, which unnecessarily increases the costs of the examination and which also can entail an additional stress for the examined patient.
Both the number of the medical problems (questions) that should be solved using a specific diagnosis apparatus, and the number of the possible different examination workflows in this diagnosis apparatus, can be very large. For example, questions from all organ regions and many different illnesses can be answered by magnetic resonance tomography, such that there are more than a thousand standard protocols. In these cases medical expertise is required in order to associate a standardized examination workflow with a medical question. Furthermore, there are always combinations of questions for which an optimal examination workflow cannot be defined in advance.